1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an image processing apparatus and an image processing method for processing image data received over the Internet.
2. Description of the Related Art
An image processing apparatus adapted to utilize the Internet, such as an Internet fax apparatus, is known. The Internet fax apparatus is designed to reduce communication costs by partly utilizing the Internet in place of telephone lines.
Such an Internet fax apparatus prints image data it receives, such as document data, without discrimination. Therefore, a large number of sheets of printing paper are consumed when a large volume of data is received at a time.
An Internet fax apparatus has the advantage of saving time and cost to a large extent because it transmits a large volume of documents as image data by utilizing the Internet only to a nearby connection point and hence it only has to bear the cost for the transmission to that point. Transmission of such a large volume of data by fax and a telephone line entails considerable time and cost.
On the other hand, the receiving party faces an increased number of occasions of receiving a large volume of document image data at a time. Each time a large volume of image data is transmitted, the reception memory of the receiving Internet fax apparatus is occupied by the data. Then, since the apparatus prints all the image data it has received, it delivers a large volume of printed matter at a time. Thus, a large volume of recording paper is consumed at a time and the image data that is printed may include unnecessary documents.